Trolley-catcher.



M. A. YEAKLEY.

TROLLFY CATCHER. APPLxc/mowmsu Dsc. 18. 1913.

Patented July 20, ll

2 SHEETS-SHE i..

im @ma NL'A. YEAKLEY. TROLLEY cATcHER.. APPLICATION 'man Dc.1`a. 1913.

Patented July 20, 1915u 2 SHETS-SHEET 2.

ration.

M-ELVIN A. YEAKLEY, OF CANTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR T0 JOHN E. MCLAIN, OFCANTON,

OHIO.

vTROLLEY-cm'rcmin.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 20, i915,

Original application tiled .Tune 1, 1908, Serial No 436,147. Divided andthis application filed llecember l, 1913. Serial No. 807,487:

T0 all whom it may concern. I

Be it known that I, MnLvIN A. YEAKLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Canton, in the county of Stark and State of of the trolleypole moves up and down to adapt itself to diiferent heights of the wire,and to catch and hold `the paying out device for the trolley rope whensuch paying out becomes unduly rapid as when the trolley jumps tliewire. Such means are commonly known as trolley catchers.

One object of my invention is to provide means for maintaining thestopping means in operative relationshipafter the rope.

winding drum has been stopped.

Another object of my invention is to provide a spring, which is at` alltimes active, for maintaining the stopping means in operativerelationship after said means have 'acted to stop the drum.

Another object of the invention is to provde a dog carrying member,separate from the drum but connected thereto by positive and yieldablemeans which permit a predetermined relative movement between the drumand said member, whereby the yield` able means operate to maintain thedrum stopping meansin operative relationship after the drum has beenstopped.

With these and other objects in view, the invetion consists in the partsand combiz nation of parts hereinafter described and referred to in theappended claims.

This application is a division of myy application, Serial No. 436,147,filed June 1, 1908. l

For the purpose of illustrating my invention, I have selected andhereinafter described one'construction embodying it.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a trolley catcher embodying myinvention, on the line 1 1, of Fig. 2 looking from the right. Fig. 2 isa section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 looking from the left. Fig. 3 is a'view similar to Fig. 4 with dog and counterweight removed. Fig. 4 is asection on the line 3-3 of Fig.1 looking from the left.

dog opposes the centrifugal force.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view, partly on the line 5-5 and partly on theline 5*5 of Figi.

F ig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view illus t'rating the manner ofconnecting the trolley rope. to the drum andthe pawl and ratchet devicesfor locking drum against rotation Referring to the drawings, the casingfor the mechanism is divided vertically and the two halves 1 and 2thereof are held together by a bolt 3 which alsoserves as an Vaxle forvthe interior mechanism. When assembled the casing has .an opening lthrough which the trolley rope 5 passes and there isian opening 6beneath the winding drum 7. The winding drum 7 is journaled on the bolt3. Also journaled on the bolt 3 is the dog-carrying member 8 which isseparate from the drum and between which driving connection isestablished in thc manner hereinafter described. v

The member 8 is provided with pivot pins 10 and 11, which are located onopposite sides of its center. Upon these pins are respectively pivotedthe centrifugal dog 12 and its counterweight 13 The dog and counterweight are connected by a spring link 14:. A spring 15, coiled about thepin force of the spring 15 will be overcome bythe centrifugal operationvof the dog and the dog 12 will engagel with the ratchet teeth 16.

The utility of the counter-weight will be apparent when it isconsidered. that the bolt 3 is horizontal and that therefore in theposition shown (see Fig. 4) the weight of the the dog-carrying memberhas turned through degrees and the dog occupies the position shown inthe drawing as Occupied by the counterweight, the weight of the dog willbe added 'to the centrifugal force in producing a tendency for it tomove outward. With the counterweight and the dog linked together, asshown, their weights are balanced at all times so that gravity lhas noin fluence upon the dog, which responds solely to the centrifugal force.The counterweight might also be adapted to act as a dog but ordinarily'one dog will prove sufcient. The

When

link 14,- being of spring material, the parts are not hampered in theirmovements as would be the caseif this link were rigid.

The Spring 26 is for turning the drum 7 to-maintain the trolley rope 5taut as the trolley adapts itself to varying heights of the trolleywire. This spring engages at one end with the hub of the winding drumand at the other end is secured to a segmental spring 27 which slidablyengages the interior of the casing. The engagement of the inner end ofthe spring 26 with the hub of the winding drum is preferablyaccomplished by bending the end of the spring into a recess as isclearly shown in Fig. 5. The side of this recess against which the bentend of the spring is drawn when the spring is wound is at a somewhatabrupt angle with the bottom of the recess so that movement of the endof the spring 26 in this direction is arrested. The other Vside of therecess, however, is a gradual incline, as shown',l so that if the partsare turned to unwind the spring 26, the end of the spring will slide outof the recess and about'the hub, thereby preventing breakage of Vthe*spring in case an attempt is made to Wind it in the wrong direction. Themanner of securing the other end lof the spring 26, imely, by means ofthe segmental spring 2 sliding upon the interior of the casing,

' prevent the too tight winding of the spring.

If an attempt is made to wind the spring beyond a certain tension, thesegment 27 will slide and prevent it. In some circumstances the frictionbetween the segment 27'and a smooth casing interior might be sufficient,

but it is preferred to provide teeth 28, as shown, upon the casing, inthe recesses between which the pro]ecti0n 29 upon the y segment 27extends. Upon a too tight winding of the spring, this projection will bewithdrawn from the recess in which it may be located and the segmentwill slide about the interior-of the casing .and relieve the surplustension.

Encircling the bolt 3 is a plate 18 having a ratchet 19 upon its hub.The hub of the plate 18 is preferably loosely sleeved over 1 a reducedportion of the hub for the drum 7. The plate 18 and its ratchet are heldagainst rotation by means of a projection 20 which i projects into arecess 21 in the casing. Pivoted at 22 upon the winding drum is .a pawl23 having its nose normally held in engagement with the ratchet 19 bymeans of a spring 24 which is coiled about the pivot 22 and has one endin engagement with the drum while the other end is in engagement iwiththe tail of the pawl, as shown. The

tail of the pawl extends over a hole 25 in the drum. This hole iskey-hole` shaped, that is, is wider at one end than at the other (thewide end being at the right hand in Fig. 5).y The knotted end of thetrolley rope may be passed through the wide portion ofthe hole 25 andthe rope being then drawn into the narrowv portion after the knot hasbeen passed within the drum, the end of the ropeis securely fastened tothe drum by reason of the lfact that the knot cannot pass through thenarrow portion of the hole. Furthermore, the knot operates toelevate thetail end of the pawl 22, thereby throwing its nose out ofengagement wlththe ratchet 19. 1 i 9 indicates connections between the drum /7 anddog-carrying member 8. These connections are constructedto permitmovement of the member 8 relative to the drum under certain conditionsof loperation in order'that the centrifugal dog 12 may be` maintained inoperative position during rebound of the trolley as will be hereinafterset forth. The connections 9 preferably comprise a set of lugs orprojections 7al carried by the flange of the drum, which lugs may beequally spaced from 'each other, and sets of arms 8, 8", projectingradially from the periphery of the dog-carrying member 8 and into thepath of movement of the lugs 7a. As will be understood from Figs. 3 and4, each lug 7a is arranged between and cooperates with the adja'oentarms 8a, 8b, constituting one of said sets, to positively drive thedog-carrying member in one direc-4 tion or the other; that is to say,when the drum rotates in an anti-clockwise direction, the rlugs 7a willengage the arms 8b and drive the member 8 in the same direction; whenthe drum rotates in a clockwise direction the lugs 7a will engage the.arms 8 and drive the member in a clockwise direction. From theconstruction just described, it will be seen that 'the dog-carryin.member 8 and drum 7 are movable relative to each other on the bolt 3,the distance that the arms 8, 8", of each set are spaced from eachother. In operation, when the trolley pole jumps or leaves the overheadwire, the drum 7 will be rotated in clockwise direction at high speed.The drum 7 will in turn rotate the dog carrying member 8 through theconnections 9. Under. the influence of centrifugal force thus' set up,the dog 12 will swing outwardly, engage one of the teeth 16 and arrestthe drum 7 thus preventing further unwinding of the rope 5 thereom. 9indicates a spring which flexibly or yieldably connects the drum 7 anddogcarrying member 8 together. y The spring 9 operates, as will be.later described, to move the said member relative to the drum 7, wherebythe dog 12 will be maintained in4 operative position upon rebound of thetrolley pole after it has been arrested. The

spring 9 is looped .about a pin 17 upon the menace member 8 and its endis secured thereto by being bent into a recess in the hub, as shown at9a. The inner leaf 9b is unsecured, other than at the looped end, exceptas it is confined and bound by the outer leaf. lt

will be apparent thatv as the pin 17 moves in a clockwise directionrelative to the dog carrying member 8, (viewing the parts as shown inFig. 3), which operation takes place when the rope 5 starts to unwindfrom the drum and continues until the lugs 7 I engage the arms 8", theend of the inner leaf of the spring 9 will be bound between the outerleaf and the hub member 8, so that the spring whole will hestidened andlaced under tension. As long as the drum con# tinues to rotate inclockwise direction and the lugs 7 are driving the member 8 byengagement with arms 8, the spring 9 will be maintained under tension asjust described.. As a result of the sudden stopping of the trolley poledue to engagement of the dog l2 with the teeth 16, the trolley pole mayrebound slightly and cause slack 'operative position relative to theratchet tooth it engages to stop clockwise rotation of the drum 7. Itwillthus be seen that the stoppage means will remain in condition toimmediately stop clockwise rotation of the drum during the rebound ofthe trolley pole, so that when the trolley pole `again swings upwardlyit will be at once arrested. lf the dog l2 were mounted on the drum 7,the ro- `tation of the latter would result in the backing' oil of thedog 12 from the ratchet 16, whereupon the dog would be retracted landthe drum and`trolley released, but as the spring 9 acts through themember 8 to retain the centrifugal dog 12 in the path ot or in contactwith the tooth with whichv rebound of the trolley pole occupies such ashort interval of time that the dog 12 un* der control of the spring 9is not moved materially, if at all, from the path of the ratchet toothand is therefore re'ady to engage the ratchet tooth before or theinstant the pole starts upwardly after the rebound.

Furthermore, when the trolley has left the overhead conductor and thetrolley pole has been stopped by the action of the catcher from furtherupward travel of. the trolley, should 'the said pole engage with a spanwire, or any superstructure for theoyerhead conductor and have itstrolley end forced downwardly, the winding drum 7 will instantly andfreely act to wind up the trolley rope slack and when thel said trolleypole is again y free to swing upwardly at its trolley end, such movementwill be immediately stopped by the engagement of the dog 12'with theratchet 16, which has been retained in readiness for instant stoppageaction. .In this construction the spring'9 is made very light and thin,it being intended simply for the purpose of exertingpressure on themember 8 to prevent its rotation and retain thecentrifugal dog 12in thepath of the ratchet 16 during the winding up action of the drum 7 when arebound of the trolley pole occurs, serving the purpose of adapting theoper- Vation .of the centrifugal dog to act substantially instantlyafter the reboundY of the trolley pole, following the action of thedevice in stopping the upward travel of the said pole. Y, L l

Any suitable means maybe provided for securing the apparatus t0 a car..Referring tothe means herein disclosed, the right hand end of the case(as viewed in Fig. 1) 1s provided upfon its exterior with the ribs -30,from any suitable number of .which eX'- tend projections 3l. To the caris fastened a bracket oriother device (not shownlwhich is formed with arecess and a circulalfrimy having suitable notches' and undercut refcesses to receive the projections 31. In, this I manner bayonet jointsare formed which secure the bracket and trolley catcherntor44 gether. Tosecure the catcher and bracket in locked relation, an arm 37 extendsfrom the casing of the catcher and in this arm is mounted a slidablebolt 38 which, when the catcher is in locking position upon the bracket,will register with a rocket in the rim of the bracket, and the bolt 38being inserted in this socket, thecatcher is locked in position on thebracket. The ribs 30 rest upon the interior ofrthe bracket rim. nvavailable number of ribs may be employed.

1n the operation of the catcher, assuming that the .slack-absorbingspring 26 is 1111-' wound, possibly the simplest nmanner of winding 'itup and placing the catcher in condition for operation, is to loopl asection of the trolley rope around the drum 7, thenholding therespective ends of the loop irmly in either hand, to seesaw the ropeback and forth around the drum, bearing against the periphery` of theLdrum when pulling in the'direction to wind the said spring 26, andeasing up when pulling in the reverse direction. This is continued untila clattering ir-chattering noise is h'eard ,330,

- actsto rotate the drum and wind up the paratus of the class described,hmany alteradesired amount of trolley vrope upon the drum.

Whenthe catcher is not -in useI and the trolley rope is removed, thespring 26 would quickly unwind, necessitating rewinding before it couldbe placed in use, unless means were provided for preventing it. In theapparatus shown, when the knot ofthe trolley rope is removed from thehole 25, the nose of .the pawl 23 is thrown into engagement with thestationary ratchet 19'so that 'the spring is prevented from unwinding.

lVhen,ho\vever, the catcher is placed in servl ice the pawl 28 isremoved from the ratchet 19 upon the insertion of the knot of thetrolley rope beneath the tail of the pawl, then the drum is :tree tomove under the action of' the spring and maintain the trolley rope tantunder the raising and lowering of the trolley in adapting itself tovaryingheights of the trolley wire. If, however, the trolley shouldleave the wire the drum would rotate at such a ratevthat the dog l2would ily outwardly into engagement with the stationary ratchet 16,whereupon the drum would be stopped and the trolley caught.

To those skilled in the art of making ap.-

tions in construction and widely differing embodiments and applicationsof my invention `Will suggest themselves, without departing frornthespirit and scope thereof. My disclosures and the description herein arepurely illustra-tive, and are not intended I to be in any senselimiting.

What I claim is:

1. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of a drum, meansfor rotating said drum in one direction, devices having connection. withsaid drum for stopping the rota-tion of the drum when the trolley, poleswings upwardly, and means for maintaining the stopping devices inoperative relation during rebound of' the trolley pole.

2. In mechanism of the class described, the combination with a casing,of a drum,

means for rotating said drum in one direct 'tion to w1nd the ropethereon, means interposed between said drum and casing for stopping therotation ofthe drum in rope paying out direction, the said means includ.ing 'a member angularly Vmovable relative to said drum, and means actingon said of the trolley pole.

In mechanism of the .class describe-d,- the combination with a casing,of a drum," means for rotating said drum 1n one direc-l tion to wind therope thereon, means interposed between said drum and casing vforstopping the rotation of the drum in rope paying out direction, the saidmeans include# ing a pawl device, a ratchet device` andra -memberangularly movable relative to said;` drum and carrying one of saiddevices, 'and means acting on said member for maintainmember formaintaining the stopping meansv in operative relationship during rebounding the stoppingmeans in'operativerela- 1 'tionship during rebound ofthe trolley ole.f'"'

4. .In mechanism of the class descri. ed, I

the combination with a casing, of a drum, means for rotating the drum 1none direction to wmd the rope thereon, means interposed between saiddrum 'and casing' for stopping the rotation of the drum in rope payingout direction, the said means including a member angularly movable-relative to said drum, and a spring acti-ng on said member formaintaining the stopping means in operative relationship during reboundl of the trolley pole. n

5. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of'a drum, meansfor rotating said drum in onedirection, vdevices havVA ing'connectionAwith said drum tor stopping the rotation thereof when the trolley poleswings upwardly, andseparate means for maintaining the stoppingdevices'in operative relation -during rebound of the trolley pole.

6. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of a drum, meansfor rotating said drum in one direction to wind the vrope thereon,devices having connectionA with said drum for stopping the rotation ofthe drum when the trolley pole; swingsupwardly, and flexible meansarranged to be placed under tension by rotation of the l drum 1n ropeunwinding direction for malntaining the stopping devices in operativere- .lation during rebound of the trolley pole.

7. In mechanism o f the `classdes'cribed, the combination of a drum,means for rotating 'said drum in one direction to wind the rope thereon,devices having connection with said drum for stopping the rotation of' ithe drum when the trolley pole swings upwardly, and a spring arranged tobe placed under tension by rotation of'lthe'fdrum in rope unwindingdirection, for maintaining the stopping devices in operative relationduring rebound of the trolley pole.

8. In mechanism of the class described, the combination .of a drum,means for ro-A tating said drum in one direction, a rotatable member,connections between said drum and" saidmember for driving thelatter,devices,

one of which is carried by said member for stopping the rotation of thedrum when the.

lone of which is carried by said member for stopping the rotation of thedrum when the trolley pole swings upwardly, and flexible moans formaintaining the stopping devices in operative relation during rebound ofthe trolley pole.

l0. In mechanism of the class described, the combination with a casing,of a drum, means for rotating said drum in one direc tion, a rotatablemember, connections be! tween said drum and said member for driving thelatter, devices, one of which is carried by said member, for stoppingthe rotation of the drum when the trolley pole swings upwardly, andmeans arranged to act on said member for maintaining the stoppingdevices in operative relation during rebound of the trolley pole.

ll. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of a d riiin,means for rotating said drum in one direction to wind the rope thereon,a rotatable member,-connec tions between said drum and said member fordriving the latter, devices, one of which is carried by said member, forstopping the rotation of the drum when the trolley pole swings upwardly,and liexible means acting independentlyr of said drive connections formaintaining the stopping devices in operative relation during reboundofthe trolley ole. p 12. In mechanism of the class described,

the combination of a drum, means for rotat ing` said drum in onedirection, a rotatable member, connections between said drum and saidmember for driving the latter, devices,

one of which is carried by said member, forstopping the rotation of thedrum when the trolley pole swings upwardly7 and flexible means acting onsaid memberindependently of said drive connections for maintaining thestopping devices in operative relationV during rebound of the trolleypole.

13. In mechanism of the class described,

the vcombination of a drum, means for rotating said drum in onedirection, a rotatable member, connections between said drum and saidmember for driving the latter, but pern mitting relative movementbetween said drum and member, devices, one of which is carried by saidmember, for stopping the rotation of the drum when the trolley poleswings upwardly, and flexible acting on said member independentlj.' ofsaid drive connections for maintaining the stopping devices in operativerelation during rebound of the trolley pole.

ll. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of a drum,means for rotating said drum in one direction to wind up the ropethereon, a rotatable member, connections between said drum and saidmember for positively driving'tlie latter, means, including a pawlcarried by said member, forr stopping the rotation of the drum, and aspring connecting said drum and member together and acting through saidmember to maintain the stopping means in operative relation duringrebound ofthe trolley pole.

l5. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of a drum,means for rotating said drum in one direction to wind up the ropethereon, a rotatable member, connections between said drum and saidmember for positively driving the latter, the said connectionspermitting relative movement between said member and said drum whenl thedirection of rotation oi the latter changes, means, including a pawlcarried by said meniber,'for stopping .the rotation of' the drum, and aspring connecting said .drum and member together and acting through saidmember to maintain the stopping means in operative relation duringrebound of the trolley pole.

16. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of a spring, arotatable member provided with a pair ci arms, a drum connected to andoperated by said spring to wind the trolley rope thereon, said drumbeing provided with a lug arranged to engage one of said arms wherebysaid member is rotated in one direction or the other by said drum,`means acting on said member for stopping the rotation of the drum, anda separate spring for controlling the rotation of said member duringrebound of the trolley pole to maintain the Astopping means in operativerelation.

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